Professional Networks & User Communities Let Pros Turn to Their Peers for Advice

Tax and accounting professionals are inundated every year with new and complex
tax laws, rulings and other issues that can affect how they provide client services
and can even pose liability concerns for non-compliance or improper treatments.

While physicians might argue that their profession faces similar complexities
regarding keeping up with the latest treatments, rarely do they face such dramatic
rewritings of their body of knowledge and changes in their core knowledge. Yes,
they face an evolving profession that requires extensive continuing education,
too. And most people would probably agree that the potential consequences of
their actions are more significant: After all, the life and well-being of their
patients is at stake.

But how often are the basics of human physiology reinterpreted? Certainly
not every year, which is what tax and accounting professionals are often faced
with when it comes to federal and state tax laws, the impending move from GAAP
to IFRS, and the increasingly important role that technology plays in the modern
practice. And even these practice-essential technologies change from year to
year, adding to the crunch of information overload.

YOU CAN’T KNOW EVERYTHING
Even the most seasoned tax and accounting professionals can’t learn everything
there is to know about their field, or even memorize all of the obscure parts
of the tax code that may come up during a client engagement. Therefore, one
of the most valuable traits shared by successful practitioners is that they
know what they don’t know, and they know where to turn if they need information
on something with which they are unfamiliar.

For taxation issues, professionals generally turn to tax research systems
such as those that will be reviewed in our December 2009 issue. These systems
offer users the ability to quickly search through various primary resources
like the IRS Code, Treasury rulings, legislation, court documents and state
law. Some also provide expert advice, case studies and other insight into tax
treatments.

But taxation isn’t the only area in a professional’s life where
they need occasional guidance. This isn’t new, of course. Professionals
have been networking with each other for decades, adding specialists to their
staffs to strengthen the overall firm or finding a non-competitive professional
in their area with whom they can exchange strengths. There are also some fortunate
professionals who have a mentor to whom they can turn, while others may partner
with third parties to send clients for specific services.

FINDING THE RIGHT NETWORK
In the digital world, many professionals also turn to online networks or user
communities. These groups, many of which originally started in the early days
of the Internet as message boards, are usually offered by companies that offer
technologies to the tax and accounting profession. All of the larger developers
of professional tax and accounting suites offer such options. So for most professionals,
finding a trusted resource should be very simple. Start with what and who you
know: Your vendor.

ARNE – THOMSON REUTERS
One of the first of these networks was/is the still popular ARNE community,
which was developed by Creative Solutions in the mid-1990s. Now a part of the
Thomson Reuters family, the network allows users of Thomson Reuters CS Suite
of professional accounting and practice management software to interact with
each other through online forums, blogs, groups and other discussion tools.
Forums are divided into practice areas, such as tax, accounting, business management
and web services, which lets users find answers to questions they might have
regarding program usage or appropriate strategies. Examples of recent topics
include how to treat sole proprietors or partners who are treated as employees
and receive a W-2, how to put reports on client portals, and a professional
seeking advice on adding a partner to his practice.

QUICKBOOKS LIVE COMMUNITY – INTUIT
The other major technology vendors in the tax and accounting space also offer
online communities geared toward helping their users get more from their programs
and collaborate. For QuickBooks users, Intuit offers the QuickBooks Live Community,
a website where professionals interact and discuss program usage, engagement
strategies and business topics in forums that are divided into groups for the
type of user and the program. The Community is accessible from within QuickBooks
Premier Accountant Edition, as well as from Lacerte, ProSeries and Pro-Line,
Intuit’s new web-based professional tax compliance system. It allows users
to seek advice and receive answers from other users or support staff while still
working inside the program. Intuit also has the free online tax research website
TaxAlmanac.org, which offers a Wikipedia-style reference and collaboration system
for tax professionals.

CCH Community – CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business
Immediately after the deadline for the print edition of this issue, CCH announced
the creation of its new CCH Community, an online resource for users of CCH's
systems that provides these tax, accounting and audit professionals with resources
and the ability to interact with their peers. Visitors to the CCH User Community
will be able to share problems, solutions and best practices in discussion forums,
receive information and analysis from thought leaders, take advantage of network
capabilities and give feedback and receive updates on CCH products and services.

PEACHTREE ACCOUNTING USER COMMUNITY – SAGE
Sage offers an online community that doesn’t require usage of their accounting
products, which can be helpful if a professional is using Peachtree in his or
her own practice or even if they aren’t using it but have clients who
use the system and may need some support when it comes to program functions.
The site also provides links to forums for practice areas, blogs and advice
for practitioners and business owners.

DRAKE SOFTWARE FORUMS – DRAKE SOFTWARE
Users of Drake Software’s tax, practice management, document management
and client write-up systems can access and participate in online forums moderated
by Drake staff. Users frequently share program tips and business strategies,
and can ask questions of support staff or of other users.

ACCOUNTANTSWORLD COMMUNITY – ACCOUNTANTSWORLD
While AccountantsWorld offers a suite of web-based and traditionally installed
programs for professional accountants, the vendor’s website also offers
a large array of free research, tools, white papers, best practices, tax and
accounting news, and discussion groups divided into categories for various practice
areas. Additional sub-groups allow users to discuss specific issues involving
taxation of various entities, HR, payroll and practice management.

MyATX & TAXWISE TV – CCH SMALL FIRM SERVICES
Online user communities are also offered by CCH Small Firm Services for users
of its ATX and TaxWise professional compliance systems. The sites provide similar
forums for users to get tips and advice from other professionals, along with
access to training and support resources. Through TaxWise TV, professionals
can also watch brief educational videos that cover important taxation issues
and program tips.

NETSUITE USER COMMUNITY – NETSUITE
The provider of the widely used on-demand (web-based) accounting, CRM and ecommerce
NetSuite offers an online community for its customers, solution providers, developers
and employees. By bringing all of these groups together, the NetSuite User Community
provides them with the ability to interact and share their wealth of deep product
knowledge and extensive technical expertise. Members of the community also share
best practice ideas, discuss third-party solutions and participate in other
networking opportunities. With a worldwide user base, the community also offers
users the ability to connect with potential international partners.

TAXWORKS FORUMS – REDGEAR TECHNOLOGIES
TaxWorks offers a company blog and user forums for its registered users, with
topic-specific forums for general product information as well as support and
message boards for e-filing, document management, training and other topics.
Through the company’s blog, TaxWorks staff offer additional tips and product
advice, from data input sheets and generation of financial reports, to invoicing
and using the tax program’s built-in scheduler.

OTHER SOFTWARE VENDORS/PROGRAMS
In addition to these larger developers of professional tax and accounting suites,
many developers of programs not limited to the profession also offer user communities.
Whether using a program in-house for client services or seeking advice on a
program in order to help a client who uses it, these online resources offer
additional means for a professional to find the answers he or she needs.

INFORMAL COMMUNITIES
Many independent user groups for the above programs and other software have
also found their way online. Generally created by individual users on social
networking websites such as Yahoo! Groups, Facebook and others, these message
board-style groups are unaffiliated with the product vendor, providing users
with potentially more anonymity while discussing programs, treatments and practices.

PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS
In addition to these peer-to-peer networks and communities, many of these vendors
also offer programs that provide professionals with free or discounted software,
advanced training and other features. The most notable of these are the Sage
Professional Accountants’ Network, the QuickBooks ProAdvisor program and
Microsoft’s Professional Accountants’ Network. The Sleeter Group
is another option for professionals, providing education, training and support
opportunities for all of the major small business bookkeeping solutions on the
market, as well as many of the third-party “add-on” systems that
enhance those programs.

OTHER WAYS TO NETWORK WITH PROS
Professionals are increasingly turning to Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn
and other social media websites for day-to-day interaction with potential clients
and with their peers. Several blogs are also available for professionals, allowing
them to discuss news, software and other topics. Check out www.CPATechViews.com
as a great example.

THE ANSWERS YOU NEED
You know what you know. Hopefully, you also know what you don’t know and
have the knowledge to find that information if you need it. Just as tax research
systems are essential in the modern tax and accounting practice, online user
communities are just as vital.

By offering professionals a place to interact, collaborate, learn and help
others on a wide range of topics from using specific features in a program to
specific tax law discussions and business matters, these networks can help strengthen
the capabilities of all professionals who use them by drawing on the collective
knowledge of professionals across the country and the world who’ve encountered
the same challenges and can offer their own insight and expertise.